Proactively “From the Sea”; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

34 comments:

Tugboat
said...

When I read the title, I was 'Yeah, yeah, probably another video that NORMAL people would find scary...' (Implication being: Not ME!). I am profoundly grateful that I had not eaten breakfast. Do not watch that video largescreen unless you are REALLY happy with heights. I am laughing my arse off at myself at the moment, the guys who do that are absolutely nutters and therefore have my total respect. I have no issues going deep undsersea (in fact having more time doing the macarena on the sh**er at test depth than most of the world's population)(freely acknowledging that probably less than .01% of the world's pop are submariners), but 1670 feet is a long doggone way up. My inner ear didn't get messed with until the last few minutes, where he's free climbing the little bitty part at the top. Oh HELL no. Thanks Sal for an entertaining morning video.

No easy way down? With all the free air around them, plenty of room for a base jump. Those parachutes have become much more refind and no requirment to have a reserve (no time to use it anyhow). LIke an ejection...use when you have to, not just for the fun of it. Attach the tool bag to the tower and revoer it after the bad storm.

Great vid. Makes you appreciate how essential old-fashined human support is to technology.

My being aloft on the partially corroded mast of ESSEX, while underway, in Winter off New England, was my best thrill. An exposure suit was needed.First, obtain a chit certifying all radars were inactive, and believe them all."Man working aloft" was sounded over the 1MC.Climb to the O-10 level. Unlock the hatch. Out onto the catwalk at the base of the mast and begin the climb. There is lots of stack gas streaming aft and the gentle pitch and roll motion of the ship. Surface search antennae were still rotating. I felt no warmth from them as I passed by.At the top of the mast there was a small gridded catwalk at the base of the TACAN dome. Next, advance to the TACAN dome and mount it. Restrain yourself with two wraps of safety strapping around the MCJR antenna mast and clip to your harness. Park your a$$ on the TACAN dome. Disconnect and exchange the X-band receiver antenna and battery powered headamp from the Helicore coax cable, and come on down. Signal restored.

Only way they'd get me up that antenna is with a big damn gun...and then he better pray he can move out of the way fast enough while I'm on my way down throwing tools at him. I'm OK with heights, but this is beyond nuts. They must pay those guys a butt load...and they're worth every penny.

Worker: You want me to go where?Boss: All the way to the tippy top, fix the wizmajig.Worker: How much?Boss: Same pay as groundWorker: (falls on floor laughing, gets up) $1 a foot per hour, top to bottomBoss: (many bad words)Worker: See ya, enjoy that climbBoss: Got to have done! Must do! Must do!Worker: If must do, and you not do it, you PAY me what I want!Boss (sweating: OK

I've been a licensed skydiver for many years and I'm STILL terrified of heights...go figure! I got dizzy watching this vid on a SMALL screen...you wouldn't get me more than 20 rungs up the first ladder.

Wne doing elex recycling, we got a light like that from a TelCo pull out. Never used, one minor scratch in the paint on the top. Plastic Fresnel lens, FAA speced for span bridges less than 500' high. Sat outside my office on a table in the warehouse for months and I always asked my walkin customers if they wanted it. No takers. Finally put it on eBay, after one of them said, when I opened to top to look at the really cool bulb, he had a friend you bought a light bulb like that once, for $300.

Put it on eBay for $299 buy it now. An account from TN, some name like "smokymtlight" bought it right away. I guess he knew a good deal and my boss was still happy to see it go.

You fall off the top of that damn thing you wouldn't need to bring a BASE jumping rig, you'd have enough time to call for someone to go buy you a 'chute and have it waiting at the top of the elevator to grab as you went by....

At 7:20 to 7:25 he takes both hands off of the tower to secure his rigging. All the way up he has maintained 3 points of contact, but when I saw his hands turn loose at the top...whoa! I think that was his 30 pounds of testicles that they were hauling up in the red bag. At least 30 pounds!

In Germany such large transmission towers belong to the Navy. Granted, they're just shy of 1200 feet, but here are eight of them and each is anchored on a small isolator. Going up there is a like endeavor as I was told by some old hands. Climbing more than 350m knowing that the tower rests on a less than 30cm connection...

And contrary to what the video says, this method of going up the antenna is a gross violation of OSHA rules. He should have been tied off with at least one point constantly, and the hooks he was using were illegal; they should have had a slide release that allows the snap link to open, so it cannot do so inadvertantly.

Says he who has sat through more hours of OSHA mandated safety training than he cares for, and who wouldn't violate three point hold for any kind of money, much less 1700 feet off the ground.

I have that gnetic syndrome that gives one the very physical urge to jump off high places that are connected to the ground. (No effect when flying as is no direct visual connection to gnd) Can't begin to tell you the emotional torque and physical squirming I did just merely watching that.

BTW, makes one appreciate the old tars in the day of the the Cutty Sark/America, etc., who sailed in ferocious seas 'round the Horn and climbed out on slick, frozen yard-arm ropes swaying on a ship tossed about in hurricane-force gales to furl the sails during bad wx. And , needless to say, with NO safety rigging. Iron Men and wooden ships indeed!